I Didn’t Say I Wouldn’t Hit You
The tail that had betrayed its master’s position stood stiffly upright, not daring to make the slightest movement. Duan Wangyue looked at his Shizun in the center of the cold spring, not daring to speak or make a sound for fear that his presence would cause Shizun to suffer a cultivation deviation.
The two stared at each other across the space. Wispy mist drifted across the landscape, wrapping everything in a thin veil and making it all look somewhat hazy and indistinct.
Just when Duan Wangyue thought he had been discovered by Shizun and was about to stand up, his brain spinning at high speed to find a completely foolproof excuse for why he, who was supposed to be resting in bed, had ended up at the cold spring, Xiao Yuan took the initiative to look away, acting as if he hadn’t noticed that an extra person was standing by the edge of the cold spring.
The brief clarity of his brain following the release was quickly swallowed back up by the tide of desire.
The vegetation growing around the cold spring was mostly frost-resistant, but that did not mean they couldn’t be weighed down by accumulated frost and snow, snapping off and falling to the ground to make a crisp sound.
The only reason Xiao Yuan had looked over in the first place was because he sensed a familiar aura approaching. Once his brain, dragged, pulled, and forced into a sea of desire by urges, extracted enough empty processing power to analyze that the newcomer posed no threat to him, he was once again swept under by the churning waves, his consciousness gradually plunging into chaos.
The one thing becoming increasingly clear and lucid was this. He was going to make that red-haired bird-man pay dearly.
Whether it was because his dislike and hatred for that bird-man had reached their peak at this moment, a sudden clarity pierced through his chaotic mind.
The sound of water splashing broke the silence. Snow-white undergarments soaked through and clung tightly to his skin, faintly revealing the contours underneath. Droplets of water dripped from his fingertips onto the water surface, sending circle after circle of ripples spreading outward.
A child who doesn’t sleep well won’t grow tall. He’s already lagging far behind his peers by a huge margin, so if he doesn’t sleep properly on top of that, how on earth is he going to manage?
Duan Wangyue stared at the fingertip pointing straight at him. Before he could even react, he felt himself gently swept up by a breath of spring breeze, and when he opened his eyes again, he was already standing inside his own room.
Inside the room, Qin Ke was sound asleep in his palm-sized nest, his chest rising and falling slightly as he emitted tiny snoring sounds.
Duan Wangyue stood frozen in the room for a moment, still feeling somewhat dazed. Lowering his gaze to the folded paper crane in his hand that hadn’t been sent to the Sect Master martial uncle, he hesitated for a fraction of a second before gently waving the hand holding the crane.
The paper crane instantly transformed into a wisp of flowing light and gradually dissipated.
He stood right there in place, lifting his head to gaze in the direction of the cold spring through a night filled with countless stars, standing until the sky broke at dawn.
When Qin Ke woke up and saw such a massive dark figure standing right before his bed, he was so startled that he spat out a tiny string of fire sparks, only snapping back to reality after being flicked on the forehead by a spiritual pill rolled by the Young Master.
Duan Wangyue’s eyes flickered. He looked at Qin Ke, who was sprawled out across the table like a flat pancake, then calmly withdrew his gaze. Day had broken; he needed to go to the small kitchen to prepare breakfast.
Elder Li, who was in charge of cultivating the outer sect’s spirit fields, had just finished giving his disciples a majestic and dignified lecture when he turned around and was startled enough to shudder violently upon finding Duan Wangyue standing silently behind him out of nowhere.
Gone was the majestic aura he had displayed just moments ago before his junior disciples; despite being an elder, he looked remarkably ingratiating in front of a mere disciple.
The status of outer sect elders compared to inner sect elders was worlds apart.
Sometimes, their status couldn’t even match that of an inner sect personal disciple.
Not to mention.
Elder Li patted his chest. The disciple standing before him, clad in light cyan outer-sect disciple robes and not even reaching his shoulder height, was none other than the personal disciple of the Law Enforcement Elder, Immortal Qingyuan.
The Wuran sword transformed into the Wuran whip; just looking at it made people feel a psychological chill.
Everyone was terrified of the perpetually icy Immortal Qingyuan, always going out of their way to avoid him, terrified that one careless mistake would bring the Wuran whip down upon their skin.
Elder Li asked, “Why has the Little Immortal Lord arrived so early today?”
As he spoke, he glanced up at the horizon where the first hints of a pale fish-belly white were appearing.
Ever since last year, the ingredients delivered to the Sixth Peak every month had been personally collected by Duan Wangyue from the outer sect.
Duan Wangyue’s outward demeanor perfectly matched the image of an elegant and scholarly immortal youth in Xiao Yuan’s mind. He curved his eyes, put on the gentle look of a refined young scholar, and replied, “I usually come around this time, but I rushed a bit more with my sword flight today, fearing I might delay morning lessons.”
There was a large lecture hall in the inner sect offering courses on talismans, swordsmanship, formations, artifact refining, beast taming, alchemy, and more. Aside from cultivating under their respective Shizuns, personal disciples of various elders and peak masters would also attend classes alongside other disciples in the main hall to study other esoteric arts.
In a cultivation world governed by killing for treasures, absolute supremacy of cultivation, and a philosophy where whoever hit harder survived, learning an extra esoteric art was equivalent to having an extra means of preserving one’s life.
The outer sect had similar classes as well. Elder Li nodded in understanding, watching Duan Wangyue take his ingredients and depart via sword flight, raising a hand to stroke his long beard. Such an unhurried, steady young sapling, raised right by the side of the Sixth Elder, who was practically an ice block turned spirit, yet he hadn’t been raised into a little ice block himself.
Just as he finished sighing with emotion, he turned around and spotted the very ice block essence standing coldly behind him.
“Ice block essence.”
Elder Li blurted out. The moment Xiao Yuan’s light-colored pupils shifted onto him, his brain raced at breakneck speed. “Practicing esoteric arts? If you’re going to practice the Icicle Technique, just practice the Icicle Technique, why go naming it the Ice Block Technique, that’s just ridiculous.”
Well, calling him an ice block turned out to be spot on; getting close to him really did radiate a chill.
When Xiao Yuan woke up, he found himself leaning against the edge of the cold spring pool. His memories of the previous night stopped right at the point where he felt burning hot and relied entirely on a shred of lingering reason to reach the cold spring.
As for what happened next, he had no lasting impression in his mind, save for one lingering detail. He seemed to have frightened the little dragon.
After mentally dragging that bird-man out and cursing him thoroughly once more for his filthiness, and confirming repeatedly that the demonic poison brought by the demonic fire had completely dissipated, he decided to visit the outer sect to pick up some ingredients and cook a delicious meal for his disciple to soothe the little dragon’s traumatized young heart.
With his mind occupied by these thoughts, Xiao Yuan completely missed the loopholes in Elder Li’s words and the elder’s nervous, fluttering heart.
Cutting straight to the point, he said, “This Eminence has come to collect ingredients.”
Elder Li fell silent for a brief moment, finding the dynamics of this master-disciple pair quite amusing. The master and disciple had come to collect ingredients one after another; judging by the Sixth Elder’s expression, he seemed entirely unaware that his disciple Duan Wangyue had just been here a moment ago.
Elder Li’s thoughts whirled frantically for a moment, countless speculations bubbling up, but cowed by the terrifying reputation of the Wuran whip, he dared not utter a single word of it.
He could only say, “The Little Immortal Lord only just left a moment ago. Did the Immortal not cross paths with the Little Immortal Lord?”
Xiao Yuan acknowledged this with a hum, his thoughts shifting slightly as a bad premonition welled up uncontrollably in his chest.
Sure enough, the moment Xiao Yuan’s foot crossed the threshold of the Sixth Peak’s grand protective array and he swept his divine sense outward without a sound, he spotted a familiar figure inside the bamboo house, Sect Master Xiao Ziyu.
Xiao Yuan: (Qi)
The wooden puppet mechanisms deployed for civilian use seemed to have developed some technical glitches. He needed to go inspect and repair them right away.
“Where is Little Junior Brother off to in such a rush?”
Xiao Ziyu’s voice, brimming with suppressed laughter, drifted over from behind him. Xiao Yuan’s spine stiffened. He tried pretending he hadn’t heard, but the moment he took a step past the protective array boundary, a hand casually dropped onto his shoulder.
(Qi)
“Why isn’t Junior Brother speaking? Could it be that the demonic poison has yet to be fully cleansed?”
Xiao Yuan trembled slightly all over. Probably because this was his first time seeing his usually icy-cold junior brother in such a deeply embarrassed and awkward state, Xiao Ziyu had been grinning from ear to ear the moment he received the little martial nephew’s transmission paper crane early that morning, laughing so hard his back teeth were showing.
However, he still possessed a strong sense of responsibility regarding protecting the thin-skinned junior brother’s dignity. After laughing to his heart’s content on his own peak, he had swaggered over to the Sixth Peak on his flying sword.
Unfortunately, he hadn’t managed to catch his junior brother initially, but he had watched the boy furiously swinging a kitchen knife around in the kitchen instead.
After waiting ages to ambush his junior brother back, he claimed he needed to check his pulse to see if there were any lingering complications.
Well, as for everything else, it was simply out of a senior brother’s deep, caring concern for his junior.
Xiao Yuan turned around to face his senior brother’s somewhat twisted, laughter-strained face, and used the hilt of the Wuran sword to knock the hand off his shoulder. “Senior Brother, if you can’t hold it in, don’t hold it in.”
Just laugh if you want to.
“Hahahahahahaha! Ouch!”
Clutching the back where the Wuran sword hilt had delivered a solid blow, Xiao Ziyu winced in pain on the spot. The way these two martial brothers interacted could truly be described as fraternal harmony.
Catching up to Xiao Yuan, he openly complained right to his face, “Didn’t you just say that if I couldn’t hold it in I shouldn’t hold it back? Why’d you still hit me?”
Xiao Yuan glanced at him sideways and said calmly, “I didn’t say I wouldn’t hit you.”
Xiao Ziyu choked for a moment. Well, true. His junior brother had only said not to hold it back if he couldn’t, never said he wouldn’t hit him. Looking at his junior brother’s slender, upright figure and the vibrant, flowing aura of the Wuran sword trailing behind him,
Shouldn’t he be celebrating the fact that his junior brother had used the hilt of the Wuran sword rather than the Wuran whip?
With that thought in mind, his junior brother was actually treating his own flesh-and-blood senior brother quite well after all.
When they arrived at the mountaintop bamboo house, Duan Wangyue had already laid out the breakfast in the front hall, standing obediently to one side and bowing respectfully. “This disciple greets Sect Master Martial Uncle, and greets Shizun.”
Xiao Ziyu had a fierce protectiveness toward his own people; externally, he was an unquestionable, cold-faced Sect Master, but internally, he was far more amiable and approachable.
The little martial nephew was the only disciple his junior brother had taken in all these years, so as the biological senior martial uncle, he naturally had to protect him like his own disciple.
“Mm.”
“Mm.”
Two acknowledgments rang out in unison. Duan Wangyue straightened up and looked toward his Shizun, his pitch-black eyes filled entirely with worry.
He was genuinely worried about Shizun’s health. If his injuries hadn’t been so severe, why would Shizun have kept him from standing guard the previous night while healing in the cold spring?
After much thought on the way back to the peak, he had still sent a paper crane to the Sect Master martial uncle.
Xiao Yuan had a thin skin. After last night’s events, he felt momentarily awkward about facing the little dragon, but seeing the genuine worry in the boy’s eyes, that awkwardness melted away like butterflies taking flight.
He maintained strict standards regarding his disciple’s educational environment and teaching materials, determined to nip any potential causes of the disciple’s future corruption right in the bud. He kept a very tight grip on textbook selections.
Not a single book that shouldn’t be read would ever appear in the study or on the little dragon’s desk.
After breakfast, Xiao Ziyu checked Xiao Yuan’s pulse while Duan Wangyue cleared away the table settings, his eyes darting eagerly back and forth between the two of them.
A task that could easily be finished in less than the time it took to brew a cup of tea was dragged out through deliberate dawdling.
He wanted to hear what conclusion the Martial Uncle had reached. The crisp, minor clinks of bowls stacking against one another echoed softly. He would never let go of the monster that had dared to injure Shizun.
Xiao Ziyu conducted a meticulous diagnosis for a brief moment, glanced at his dawdling martial nephew, and withdrew his hand with a smile. “The demonic poison has already been cleansed. As long as you don’t run into that demon again or get infected with demonic poison in the future, there’s nothing to worry about.”